Unexpectedly
by a kiss of winter
Summary: Sometimes, things just happen. Why? No one knows for sure. But in some cases, friends can only make things worse - while other times, they can help. In Cerise's situation, they did both.


_**author's note:**__ I don't know what this is - but I have no regrets (...yet)!_

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_**-xoxo-**_

_**Unexpectedly**_

_**-xoxo-**_

It was a simple afternoon at Ever After High - for the students of the wondrous academy were now in the Enchanted Forest, studying in Maid Marian's class of Environmental Magic.

Of course, as expected by a bunch of teenagers, nearly more than half of the class was either half asleep or goofing around, while others just gossiped among one another and only a select few were actually paying attention to the lesson of water conservation and the magical benefits of it.

Students were paired, two-by-two, in a small paddleboat, to get the true essence of the Forest's beautiful lake, however, despite this interesting setting, it did no good.

"I don't find this very interesting," Maddie declared. "Now, lessons in the forests of Wonderland, _that_ would be interesting!"

"Who are you talking to?" Raven questioned, now snapped out of her bored trance. "Is it a voice again?"

The completely mad girl nodded, and gave a slightly hysterical giggle. "The Narrator," she replied. "It called me mad, and said that this was interesting."

It's my job to observe the obvious and make things intriguing to the readers, you know!

"And you're doing a very good job of it," Maddie praised. "Except on some things."

Oh, well, _excuse me_.

Maddie let out a mock gasp, crossing her arms. "No need to be sassy, Narrator!" she scolded.

Much to her confusion, Raven just shook her head playfully at her best friend's oddity of hearing voices that weren't really there. But then again, that was what made Maddie who she was, and no one could take that away from her.

"I can't tell a lie, and, well," Cedar piped up, as she floated in the boat next to Maddie and Raven's. "Maid Marian's class is always _so boring_."

"I get what you mean," Raven agreed. "They make this class sound interesting, but it's not."

Kitty woke up from her cat nap, and let out a light groan, nudging her boatmate - Cedar. "Did you have to wake me with your talking?" she sighed. "I was having such a wonderful dream."

Leaning across the way - and nearly tipping the boat over in the process - Maddie giggled and smiled as she met the equally blue-eyed gaze of her fellow Wonderlandian. "Of mice and men?" she countered, with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmm, indeed," Kitty chuckled, with her usual sly smile.

An odd moment of silence passed between the four friends, the lot of them just continuing to be lazy and zone out on the lesson, only before Raven's gaze fell onto an odd sight.

Across the lake was Cerise, who would've normally joined them if not for assigned partners, in a boat with none other than Daring Charming who was, as expected, looking at himself in a mirror and complimenting himself on how good-looking he was.

While that wasn't so much what caught Raven's sight, it was the fact that Cerise was staring at him.

And not in an odd or perplexed way, but almost in a dreamy way.

"Does Cerise have a crush on Daring?" Maddie questioned, and this statement immediately got her strange glances from her friends.

"What makes you think that?" Raven asked.

With a roll of her pretty blue eyes, the Mad Hatter's daughter shook her head, in a slightly teasing but also disapproving manner. "The Narrator is making it a bit obvious," she explained, only before she too took note of Cerise's looks towards Daring. "But then again..." She giggled, in an almost maniacal manner this time around, and bit her lip. "If Cerise was a Princess, wouldn't they look cute together?!"

"Why would Cerise be a Princess?" Cedar inquired, as she lazily stirred her fingers in the lake water.

"Well, it would be the only way for her to date him," Maddie said simply. "Or if Daring was a commoner, then they could work."

Technically, not _everyone_ follows that rule...

"What do you mean, Narrator?"

Never mind.

"Oh, wait, do you mean with-" Maddie was about to continue, only before she took note of her friends' now completely puzzled looks - even more confused than before. "Oh, forget it. It would be so wonderlandiful if you could all hear the Narrator too. They're quite funny, and very observant!"

"Uh-huh," Raven said.

A brief pause happened once more, only before the completely mad girl had a smile about as mischevious as the feline female's and shot up in her seat, rocking the boat in the process.

"I've got it!" Maddie chirped, as she cleared her throat and leaned forward, beginning to rhyme and recite random words of Riddilish in at an odd rhythm, which in turn got odd looks from her friends once again.

However, as expected, seeing how she was completely mad, she paid no attention as she continued.

Rolling her eyes, Raven placed her hand over Maddie's mouth to shush her and raised an eyebrow. "I don't think that's helping," she said simply, nodding over to Cerise, whose cheeks were red as her signature hood. "Maybe something less... mad?"

"Whatever-after do you mean?" Maddie scoffed. "Riddilish Romance is the only way to go!"

"Maybe for you." Raven replied, with a half-hearted smile, only before her expression brightened up and she snapped her fingers excitedly. "I know!" She began humming a soft tune, one she knew and once she noticed her friends' expressions meet hers, they began to hum along with her.

It was old-fashioned, it was cheesy, it was cliche - but it just might help Cerise's predicament...

"Back me up," Raven mouthed.

Cedar began tapping her wooden fingers against the side of the boat, Kitty's sweet melodic tone of voice began humming a bit louder and Maddie joined in with her. With a good beat going, Raven softly clapped her hands and bobbed her head to their makeshift melody only before finally beginning to sing.

Sure, the song was famous and not quite ideal, but it would work.

Leaning towards the two, Raven started to softly croon the words, "_There you see her - sitting there across the way... She don't got a lot to say, but there's something about her~_"

Almost as if he was following the words to the song, Daring's glance briefly met Cerise's, and it was noted that she nearly fainted right then and there as his deep blue eyes met her stormy grey ones. Even a blind man could see that something about him attracted her towards him - a moth to light.

It couldn't have been just because he was a Charming, Cerise was more complicated of a girl than that...

...she liked the leader of the pack.

"_And you don't know why, but you're dying to try - you wanna kiss the girl..._" Raven softly sang.

Of course, this got Cerise to shoot her gaze back to her friends, with an odd expression on her face. It was certainly mixed emotions, what with delight, anxiety and confusion all in one, which was indeed a strange combination for anyone to have.

With a convincing wink, Raven continued with the lyrics, as her fellow Rebel friends backed her up with the melody of the tune.

"_Yes, you want her, look at her, you know you do. It's possible she wants you too, there's one way to ask her~_" By this lyric, Kitty had joined in with her, grinning her typical sneaky smile. "_It don't take a word, not a single word - go on and kiss the girl!_"

Glancing around, Daring had a raised eyebrow, and looked awfully confused. "Do I hear ... singing?" he questioned.

Cerise now looked completely humiliated, feeling like a fool in front of her crush, and gave a clueless shrug. "I - I don't hear anything," she muttered, twirling a dark lock of hair around her finger.

Of course, the brief glare she shot towards her friends did nothing to stop their matchmaking efforts. Granted, their intentions were good, but they sure were embarrassing.

Now, Cedar and Maddie had joined in with backup vocals, lightly harmonizing as Raven and Kitty sang the lead lyrics of the song.

"_Sha, la, la, la, la - my oh my, looks like the boy's too shy! Ain't gonna kiss the girl, sha, la, la, la, la, ain't that sad, it's such a shame - too bad, you're gonna miss the girl! Go on and kiss the girl~_" the girls sang in unison from afar, carefully observing the adorabley awkward romance scene between their friend and the Prince.

"So," Cerise said, trying to overtalk her friends in the background. "Do you, um..." She was about to get lost in Daring's blue eyes, only before a topic popped in her mind. "Do you like dogs?"

It was just a totally random conversation starter.

That's all it was.

...even if it was relevant.

Wincing, the four girls continued with their song, in hopes to help Cerise with her seemingly hopeless love problem.

"_Now's your moment - floating in a blue lagoon. Boy, you better do it soon, no time will be better! She don't say a word~_" Raven belted out on her own, only before Kitty rejoined her on the next verse, the two of them sharing a smile. "_And she won't say a word, until you kiss the girl!_"

Sitting back in his seat and giving a nonchalant shrug, Daring focused his gaze onto the girl in the red hood, not quite taking note of her slight nervousness. "I suppose so," he mused. "They are man's best friend, after all."

"Oh, that's ... nice," Cerise stammered, trying as hard as she could to hold back her blush from making her face go completely red.

A moment of awkward silence passed, only before Daring gave a small nod. "Do you?" he inquired.

Looking up at him with a raised eyebrow, Cerise stuttered over her words and hesitated. "Do I what?" she said nervously.

"Do _you_ like dogs?" he countered.

"Y - yeah," she murmured. "I'm a fan of any sort of canine, really. Especially wolves, they're really ... fascinating animals." She mentally scolded herself for being so stupid to mention wolves and wanted to slap herself, but she was slightly surprised that Daring decided to continue the conversation.

He let out a light chuckle, and blew his blonde bangs out of his face, which almost made Cerise swoon - _almost_.

"How strange," he observed. "I would've thought you'd be scared of wolves, what with your story and all."

Cerise released a nervous laugh, and gave a shrug. "I - I guess I'm different," she said. "I mean, I'm not an open book. You can't tell everything about me just by looking at the pages. You sort of have to read the fine print."

Even if she was handling this just fine, Cerise wanted to walk over and slap her friends - as they seemed to insist on using that blasted song...

"_Sha, la, la, la, la_, _don't be scared - you better be prepared, go on and kiss the girl! Sha, la, la, la, la, don't stop now - don't try to hide it now~_" Raven leaded, only before Kitty and Maddie took full force, while Cedar sat back, just trying not to laugh at the whole sight of it all. "_You wanna kiss the girl, go on and kiss the girl!_"

Daring looked deep into her grey eyes, and smiled. "That's a wonderful metaphor," he murmured.

Their gazes were only inches apart...

Their eyes met...

Cerise gave a bashful grin, adjusting her hood, about to lean in, and Daring took the hint, starting to meet her halfway...

...only before their floating mode of transport crashed right into a boulder, tipping them over and causing the both of them to get soaked.

"And that, students, is why you were supposed to watch where you were going!" Maid Marian called, with a scoff.

Watching the Prince and the girl in the red hood fumble back into their boat, completely freezing from the cold water, and embarrassed at what had just happened, Cerise and Daring shared nervous yet humored expressions as they adjusted their wet clothing and tried to avoid one another's gaze - but somehow, their eyes always managed to meet.

With a successful and giddy giggle, Maddie clapped. "I think our plan worked," she declared.

Raven gave a nonchalant shrug and smirked. "It was fun," she quipped. "And who knows? Maybe it'll go somewhere..."

Looking back to her friends, Cerise shot a playful glare, and mouthed the words, "I'm going to kill all of you." - but as soon as she was done, and turning back to Daring, she was met with a quick, brief kiss on the lips, which surprised her to no end.

"Wh-what was that for?" she stammered.

"Did you not enjoy it?" he remarked.

Cerise shook her head and laughed.

She didn't know what that was, or why it happened...

...but she certainly did like it.

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_**author's note:** HUZZAH FOR CUTE DARISE FLUFF I JUST WROTE FOR NO REASON X3_

_Please review to let me know what you all thought :)._


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